Financial Knowledge and Attitudes of Youth in Ghana

This research brief focuses on the financial knowledge, attitudes, and socialization of youth in the YouthSave Ghana Experiment as well as the financial knowledge of the youth’s parents and guardians. Data from this brief are from baseline surveys with 6,252 yout and 4,576 parents and guardians of these youth. The experiment uses a cluster randomized design, with 100 schools randomly selected from eight of Ghana’s ten regions. The results detailed in this brief give a first glimpse into the financial knowledge and attitudes of Ghanaian youth and their financial socialization experience. Parents feel that savings and using formal financial institutions are important. These findings suggest that both schools and parents may be important sources of guidance for youth.